Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37970574›Full record

ArticleAfrican journal of thoracic and critical care medicine2023

A point-prevalence study of body mass indices in HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in South Africa.

A Parker, A G B Broadhurst, M S Moolla, L Amien, R Ahmed, J J Taljaard, G Meintjes, P Nyasulu, C F N Koegelenberg

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Article in African journal of thoracic and critical care medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

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3 · Its place in the literature

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0 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

A ParkerDivision of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
A G B BroadhurstDivision of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
M S MoollaDivision of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
L AmienDivision of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
R AhmedDivision of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
J J TaljaardDivision of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
G MeintjesDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
P NyasuluDivision of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
C F N KoegelenbergDivision of Pulmonology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
Stellenbosch University · ZATygerberg Hospital · ZAGroote Schuur Hospital · ZAWestern Cape Department of Health · ZA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Obesity is now well recognised as a risk factor for severe COVID-19, but the true prevalence of obesity in hospitalised adults with COVID-19 remains unclear because formal body mass indices (BMIs) are not routinely measured on admission. Objectives: To describe the true prevalence of obesity measured by the BMI, and associated comorbidities, in patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19, including people with HIV (PWH). Methods: We conducted a point-prevalence study of measured BMI in consecutive patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the medical COVID-19 wards in a tertiary academic hospital in Cape Town, South Africa (SA). Patients were enrolled over a 2-week period during the peak of the first COVID-19 wave in SA. Results: We were able to measure the BMI in 122 of the 146 patients admitted during the study period. The prevalence of HIV was 20% (n=24/122). Most of the participants were overweight or obese (n=104; 85%), and 84 (68.9%) met criteria for obesity. The mean (standard deviation) BMI was 33 (7.5), and 34.5 (9.1) in PWH. Of PWH, 83% (n=20/24) were overweight or obese and 75% (n=18) met criteria for obesity. Multimorbidity was present in 22 (92%) of PWH. Conclusion: We found that most patients, including PWH, met criteria for being overweight or obese. The high prevalence of obesity in PWH and severe COVID-19 reinforces the need for targeted management of non-communicable diseases, including obesity, in PWH. Study synopsis: What the study adds. We found that the true prevalence of obesity, including in people with HIV (PWH), measured with the formal body mass index in hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19 was much higher than reported previously.Multimorbidity was present in over half of all patients, and in 92% of PWH. Implications of the findings. Urgent public health measures are required to tackle the rise in obesity, including in low- and middle-income countries.HIV care must integrate management of non-communicable diseases, including obesity.The pathogenic mechanism of the link between obesity and severe COVID-19 needs further research.

Indexed as

body mass indexCOVID-19HIVmultimorbidityobesity

Identifiers

PMID37970574
PMCPMC10642405
OpenAlexW4387056430

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.